J-Ranko Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Current FTS 2/6/2017 ------- Hello Nano-reefers! After a five-year hiatus I have decided to dip my toes back into the hobby with this small tank, an 11 gallon rimless tank bought from a local store. Last weekend I took a tour of the various LFS around the Phoenix area, and was pleasantly surprised to find the best one less than a mile from where I live. My goals for this tank are pretty modest, and are intended to serve more as a stepping stone towards an eventual upgrade within a year. It's going to be a mix of softies, LPS and SPS, and some inverts. Not sure about a fish yet, given the size. So here are a couple of dry FTS to get started: Tank: 45 x 28 x 32cm AquaJapan rimless Lighting: AI Prime Circulation: one power head (Rossmont m900) ATO: Tunze osmolator nano That's it! No heater, as I live in the Phoenix area and I have my A/C on 24/7 to keep the air at 78F inside. No skimmer, no HOB filter either. A truly bare-bones tank. I debated a bit whether to get a mp10. But having an ATO directly in the display means I can't really have the water level jump up and down too much without potentially wearing out the ATO (mostly the pump). I also debated between the AI Prime vs. Kessil 160, but the built-in controllability and incredible fine-tuning sold me on the AI. The initially setting is very purple to start with, but eventually I settled on one that was more between 11K and 14K blue. It's set to max out at 50% for now, and I will ramp it up over time as needed. Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Welcome back Buddy! You don't know how long of a wait this been for all of us. Link to comment
Matteo Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 This is only 5 panels of glass and an AI Prime and I am already excited for the potential Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 Welcome back Buddy! You don't know how long of a wait this been for all of us. Glad to be back in the hobby! I wish I could jump back in with a bigger tank like your 40B. I might move (locally) within a year, though, so I'm not inclined to set up anything "big" right now. A smaller tank is more portable. Plus, it gives me an excuse to upgrade later... This is only 5 panels of glass and an AI Prime and I am already excited for the potential I'm going to keep it as simple as I can with this setup. I love how far this hobby has advanced that you can maintain even a nano tank with just a few key pieces of equipment. Link to comment
NathanC Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 i'm gonna follow this! seems like an awesome and fun project! Link to comment
Justind823 Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 He's back! Love the simplicity of your setup, I hope it goes well for you. I'll be following! Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 First wet FTS! I went for a very shallow sandbed (2-3mm). The powerhead is a little oversized for this tank and moves the sand around, creating a partially exposed bottom. I moved the AI gooseneck clamp to the back right corner, along with Tunze float switch. Tried getting the powerhead behind the rock. With a decent-sized frag at the top, it might be concealed completely. Link to comment
Matteo Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 no filter of any kind? If you do a filter and want to keep it simply still you should just do one of these and mod the media http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Turtle-Canister-Filter/dp/B0002DIRPU/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1461434744&sr=8-8&keywords=external+filter+for+aquarium Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 no filter of any kind? If you do a filter and want to keep it simply still you should just do one of these and mod the media http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Turtle-Canister-Filter/dp/B0002DIRPU/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1461434744&sr=8-8&keywords=external+filter+for+aquarium No filter so far, but I admit I'm wavering. I was thinking HOB just to have some media like carbon or chemi-pure, but that would spoil the look. That small canister filter looks like it might do the trick, depending on how conspicuous the intake and return are in the tank. Thanks for the suggestion. Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 No filter so far, but I admit I'm wavering. I was thinking HOB just to have some media like carbon or chemi-pure, but that would spoil the look. That small canister filter looks like it might do the trick, depending on how conspicuous the intake and return are in the tank. Thanks for the suggestion. I'd suggest keeping the 'clean and simple' look. 'Filterless' can definitely work for a nano long term (coming up on 8 years for my 'filterless' 12g). Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 I'd suggest keeping the 'clean and simple' look. 'Filterless' can definitely work for a nano long term (coming up on 8 years for my 'filterless' 12g). 8 years! Wow, that's gotta be a record around here. Beautiful tank, by the way. Congrats on keep up with it for that long. Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 8 years! Wow, that's gotta be a record around here. Beautiful tank, by the way. Congrats on keep up with it for that long. Thanks. Not quite a record, though, as there are a few on here that are a bit older It's really not much effort to keep it on course and once the tank hit the 3-4 year mark it kind of settled itself in for the longer haul. If it does go 'poof' one day it'll most likely be from some silly mistake that I make Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted May 1, 2016 Author Share Posted May 1, 2016 Tank is cycled and is going through its lovely post-cycle algae bloom (mostly diatom). So no FTS for now. But I wasn't about to wait too long to put some corals in it, so I added two. Helmet Fungia. This has such a rich neon-green color that glows even under "normal" lighting. This guy is more round compared to the plate-like variety. And of course, my favorite the Duncan! A small frag with two heads and a tiny one behind (not pictured): Hoping to grow this guy into a decent sized colony with many branches. Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 Post-cycle algae bloom has almost run its course. But there's a patch behind the Duncan that my snails haven't munched on yet. Might just 'nudge' them to that spot. Added a few more frags: a couple of acans, red palys, and a neon-green branching hydnophora. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Welcome back! I love what you're doing with this tank with the bare bones simple approach. It already looks beautiful with the well-placed and selected corals you've started with. Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 Welcome back! I love what you're doing with this tank with the bare bones simple approach. It already looks beautiful with the well-placed and selected corals you've started with. Thanks! I'm hoping to add more frags soon. Just gotta fight the impulse to go fast. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Post-cycle algae bloom has almost run its course. But there's a patch behind the Duncan that my snails haven't munched on yet. Might just 'nudge' them to that spot. Added a few more frags: a couple of acans, red palys, and a neon-green branching hydnophora. Nice new frags! Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 Added a lovely macro over the weekend--a dragon's breath: The day it arrived I was worried it appeared to have bleached from the stress of transport, but now it's coloring back up after just 3 days in my tank and the fiery orange tips are coming back! Also, I added this baby clownfish over a week ago but it's only recently I was able to take a non-blurry picture of him. As you can see, he likes to be the center of attention and hangs around the LPS. Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted May 14, 2016 Author Share Posted May 14, 2016 Added this beauty today: a pink-tipped Aussie elegance. Picture taken with my phone about an hour after acclimation: Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Elegence - One of the corals that truly lives up to it's name. Aussie sourced is the best choice on these, too. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Added this beauty today: a pink-tipped Aussie elegance. Picture taken with my phone about an hour after acclimation: Gorgeous! Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted May 14, 2016 Author Share Posted May 14, 2016 Elegence - One of the corals that truly lives up to it's name. Aussie sourced is the best choice on these, too. This one's been in my LFS for about a month. I wanted to buy it sooner, but my tank wasn't ready and I wanted to observe its health. I think I might post a video of it. Elegance corals are best observed in motion. Gorgeous! Thanks! I found a perfect spot for it in the lower right corner of my tank--moderate flow and decent space. I added some sand to support it. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 That's a beautiful elegance! It's so perfect it almost doesn't look real. Link to comment
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